TMZ learned that Hayden Panettiere kept her rekindled relationship with Brian Hickerson to herself to safeguard her career.
Sources close to Brian have told TMZ that the couple did not break up nearly as often as was believed by the public. They were together in the months leading up to her death, as she promoted her book “This Is Me A Reckoning”.
Hayden’s team advised her to separate herself from Brian at least in public, even though the two were romantically involved, according to our source.
Hayden’s team felt Brian “was bad for business” when she was promoting the book. Their complicated past was deemed to be bad for sales, but the two were in constant contact during their promotional tour.
Hayden is said to have become a part of the Hickerson clan in the last few years, especially given that she had a poor relationship with her family.
Sources close to Brian have confirmed that they are dating and have been for many years. Reports of their separation were false, and spread to boost her career.
Hayden and Brian were seen together by our source in Los Angeles, South Carolina and other places… mostly at friend’s gatherings.
We’re even told that people within their circle laugh when media reports claim they have split up… as they are still together.
Hayden laughed when asked about Brian’s relationship with her. Brian had served time in jail for two counts stemming from an alleged incident with Hayden back in May.
Brian, who had been told that the two women were only friends, helped Hayden, who used crutches, get into her car in LAX back in March.
Hayden, as you may know, died on Sunday at an Airbnb located in Greenville in South Carolina. Our sources also say that Brian was there. We don’t know what they did in Greenville but they are said to visit often.
Around 1:50 pm on Sunday, first responders responded to an address to assist a woman in cardiac arrest. Hayden was declared dead by 2:32 pm after they tried to save her life.
Narcan, a medication used to treat opioid overdoses, was discovered in her apartment.

Disney has sent out the list for 2028, and more. We’ve already told you most of them separately at D23’s Friday Night and our look ahead to Disney’s major film schedule.
Disney announced that while the Ryan Gosling, Shawn Levy directed anti-hero film will be released on July 28th, 2028. This is the same weekend in which the studio had already put on hold a Marvel Studios untitled movie. The end of July will be the new hot launchpad for Marvel movies like Deadpool & Wolverine, Spider-Man Brand New Day and Wolverine & Deadpool.
Searchlight Pictures’ suspense-horror Monitor will move earlier into 2027, from April 30, next year to 16 April. Matt Black and Ryan Polly’s blurb: A disturbing video is posted online. After it goes viral, something starts to move from screen to screen. No escape. There is no warning. It’s too late once you see it.
Disney has not given up on a movie that is yet to be named, but it’s changed its release date from February 18th 2028 (previously) to February 11th 2028.
The dates for the tentpole movies 2028 and 2020 have been announced previously:
2028
Pixar Ghost Market – March 10,
Disney’s live-action Tangled, March 31,
Marvel Studio’s Untitled X-Men – May 5,
Disney Animation movie Clay — November 22
Black Panther 3 — Dec. 15
2029
Untitled Disney film (previously untitled Marvel movies) — Nov. 9

WWE has its last scene planned for Monday Night RAW tonight, with the Bloodline drama expected to dominate the final minutes.
TRNBCKL Gold reports that the original plan is to have Jey Uso deliver Solo Sikoa in the final segment of the episode on August 17. This follows Jey’s defeat of Solo last week on RAW. The result set up Roman being given Solo as part his journey back to the Bloodline.
WWE will save that fight for the end of RAW rather than putting it in the middle. The plans are still preliminary and may change by the time RAW airs.
On the other side of the card, Chad Gable will defend his Intercontinental Championship from Rey Mysterio. Dragon Lee is scheduled to face El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr., and Rey Fenix battles El Fiscal for the World Heavyweight Championship No. The first matches of the Contender’s Tournament will be between Lyra Vakyria and Sol Ruca.
If WWE follows the current order, RAW’s end will be Jey Uso taking Solo Sikoa straight to Roman Reigns. Whatever happens after that will have the last word for the evening. Ringside News’ live coverage will take place in the WWE Monday Night Raw coverage hub.
What is WWE planning to do when Jey uso gives Solo Sikoa Roman Reigns? Comment and let us know your thoughts.

Hizzoner tries to reassure critics that he did not use AI in the city videos which show him talking high-level Mandarin or Bengali.
The team of Mayor Zohran Mdani denied flatly that artificial intelligence had been used in two clips released by the mayor last week, to promote the city’s free Broadway tickets giveaway for students.
Joe Calvello, Mamdani’s chief spokesperson and press secretary wrote in an X Sunday article in response to a video where the mayor speaks Mandarin to the camera for 41 seconds comfortably while sitting at his desk.
Mamdani was born in Uganda, raised in New York and was well known to speak in his constituents’ native language during the successful campaign for office. This included Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu.
His apparent command of Chinese, which is spoken by more than 1.1 billion people in the world, wasn’t revealed until the Saturday promotional video promoting the Theater Development Fund’s free ticket giveaway.
Mamdani’s spokesperson confirmed to the New York Times the mayor had studied Mandarin in the Bronx High School of Science where he received his diploma in 2010. However, he said that he has not studied the language or spoken it since.
Most native Mandarin speakers who responded to the Mayor’s X Post praised the diction of the post, but many speculated that it had been AI-assisted or repeated.
One person said, “He does not know Mandarin at all but seems to be practicing this small speech with great diligence.”
Phil Wong of Queens, who is a native Mandarin-speaker, also agreed.
“Sounds accurate. Wong said to The Post that the scene was probably rehearsed a lot.
Susan Zhuang of Brooklyn Council, who is also an excellent speaker, said: “He did pretty well.”
He doesn’t know Chinese, but his accent sounds good. She told The Post that she would give it a B- or B-plus. The problem is that he posted it to the wrong platform. Chinese people use WeChat. Facebook and Twitter are not used by Chinese-speaking people.
Another Mandarin speaker commented on X in a Chinese comment: “His pronunciation was very accurate, but the rhythm could be a little stiff.” It’s impressive enough to say “That is already very impressive.”
A second commenter praised Mamdani for his pronunciation. He wrote “this would have been very good even for someone who had not studied the language before.”
Another user commented, “His accent is good, especially for a novice.” He also said, “He did make a couple of linguistic mistakes.” He said “I don’t speak Mandarin” instead of saying, “I can’t speak Mandarin.” ‘”
Some commenters believed the mayor had used AI to clean up his language.
A skeptic X user wrote: “Everyone is eating it up as if it were not AI.”
Another person said, “It’s not that difficult to fix fluency using AI.”
330,000 New Yorkers are Chinese speakers at home, according to statistics.
A second video, almost identical, was posted by the mayor, speaking Bangla or Bengali. This is the language native to Bangladesh and spoken by 265,000,000 people around the world, including 71,000 homes in the five boroughs.
Many Bengali speakers who commented on his performance praised the way he pronounces words.
Approximately 109,000 New Yorkers are fluent in Russian, while another 52,000 speak primarily Yiddish. However, neither group is represented in this promotional campaign.
The third and final version of the video featured the mayor in Spanish. This is the language spoken at home by 843,000 New Yorkers.
Mamdani has been accused of using AI to fake his fluency in Spanish on the campaign trail.
Jake Blumencranz, Republican State Assemblyman Jake Blumencranz, doubted two videos of Mamdani’s campaign in which he was seen speaking Spanish. He commissioned an analysis by a third party to see if AI had been used.

According to TMZ, the Greenville County Coroner’s Office has completed an autopsy of Hayden Panettiere and found no evidence of trauma.
The statement stated that “no signs of trauma have been found which would have caused the death.” The cause of death and manner remain unknown pending additional investigations and studies.
We reported that a close friend of Panettiere called 911 around 1:50 pm on Sunday to report an “unresponsive woman.” Medics could be heard talking about an “overdose,” and “cardiac collapse” at the time she died. The paramedics tried to revive Panettiere with “advanced cardio life support”, but the woman was declared dead at the scene.
She has been very open in her struggle for addiction. It was a long-term battle that had many factors, including severe depression after childbirth, trauma from childhood, and pressures of the industry. At 16, the actress began drinking alcohol and taking opioids. She said, “My saving grace was that I could not be messy on set while working.” But things were getting out of hand [off-set]. As I grew older, drugs and alcohol were something that I could not live without.
RELATED: Hayden Panettiere: Her Life & Career In Photos
This Is Me, A Reckoning was published in May just three months prior to her death. It details her struggle for sobriety, and the physical effects of addiction.
She is best known for her roles in Heroes and Nashville. Panettiere began as a child actor, appearing on commercials. In 1994-97 she played Sarah Roberts as a character on One Life to Live. Later on The Guided Light as Lizzie Spaulding. At age 9, Panettiere made her debut in a feature film with a role as narrator in A Bug’s Life. She also appeared that year in The Object of My Affection. In 2000 she appeared in the Denzel-Washington film Remember the Titans. The following year, in 2004, she was given her first leading role in Tiger Cruise for The Disney Channel as the character’s daughter. In January, her final movie, Sleepwalker, which is a psychological thriller about the fightening of visions that a mother has after she loses her daughter in an accident, came out. Panettiere, 36, was a mother.